Wear this look: Casual and dressy party favourites

'Tis the season for a month-long gauntlet of events, from work parties to family dinners to friendly get-togethers. And, gorgeous and trusty though it may be, you can't wear a cocktail dress to all of them.

Natalia Manzocco, Special to QMI Agency

‘Tis the season for a month-long gauntlet of events, from work parties to family dinners to friendly get-togethers. And, gorgeous and trusty though it may be, you can’t wear a cocktail dress to all of them.

Black, metallics, sparkle and lace are always in style for holiday, but this year’s go-to look is a fun, irreverent mix of glamorous and casual -don’t be afraid to throw on a comfy knit sweater with your sequined skirt, or a tuxedo jacket with jeans.

“It's no longer the uniform of having to wear the holiday red, or the holiday black dress,” says Lisa Axelson, the head of design at womenswear chain Ann Taylor, which has recently been making inroads into the Canadian market.

While Axelson acknowledges the LBD is a perennial holiday staple, “sportswear separates have become so much more important” this season, she says, she highlights slouchy sweaters and ponte pants as go-to pieces.

The key to nailing that “mix of high and low, casual and dressy” is to balance a statement top or bottom with one that’s more subdued.

“If you're wearing jeans, make sure your top is spectacular,” she says. “And then if you reverse that theory, make sure you're wearing something more casual on top, like a great fuzzy sweater, and make sure your bottom has that wow factor.”

Don’t be afraid to have a little fun with your statement piece. “We're loving a trend of overstated embellishment -done in a way that feels, I like to think, a little more humorous, as opposed to fussy,” Axelson says.

For example, she loves “the idea of big crystal stones exploded on a neckline, but maybe it's done on a ponte top that has a little more of a sweatshirt edge.”

If you’re feeling daring, that mix-and-match theory also lends itself well to blending patterns – particularly if you keep things confined to a black-and-white palette, Axelson says, as colour is tougher to pull off. “You can have more fun mixing different scaled dots together, or a dot with a stripe.”

The great thing about this trend, Axelson adds, is that it really lets the wearer’s personality shine through.

“I think it’s such a fun time in fashion right now. It feels like all the old rules no longer apply,” Axelson says. “It just feels so much more approachable and modern, that mix. It almost feels old-school to be too dressed-up.”